Venus Williams cruised through Risa Ozaki 6-2 6-2 after 75 minutes to secure her spot in the second round at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. Th’s year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon finalist got two consecutive breaks to race out to a 3-0 lead. Ozaki broke back on her second opportunity, as Williams sent her forehand wide.
The US legend earned three set points and converted her first opportunity with an ace after 38 minutes. Williams took an early break at the start of the second set and held her serve to win her fifth consecutive game. Ozaki broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Williams broke for the second time in the second set to love with a backhand and raced out to a 5-2 lead with another break to seal her spot in the third round. Williams will face another Japanese player Naomi Osaka, who saw off Alexa Guarachi 7-5 6-4.
“There is a lot of work, a lot of depth in this draw. I am going to have to work my way through this and then the finals are next”, said Williams.
Agnieszka Radwanska breezed aside Ling Zhang 6-1 6-2. The Polish star did not face any break points and broke twice in the fourth and sixth games of the first set and in the third and seventh games of the second set. Radwanska made an early double fault but held her serve easily on her first service game and got the first break to open up a 3-1 lead. She held her service game easily before getting another break. She held her next service game to wrap up the first set. Zhang started the second set with a hold of serve but Radwanska capitalised on her break point. The Pole hit a crosscourt winner to go up a double break and served out on her fourth match point setting up a third round match against Samantha Stosur.
Elina Svitolina beat Zarina Diyas 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in one hour and 40 minutes. The Ukrainian player dropped her serve early in the match but came back from 0-3 down by winning five consecutive games to take the first set 6-4. Svitolina built up a 5-3 lead but missed two match points at 6-5 40-15, as Diyas got her first break of the set, as the Ukrainian player was serving for the match. In the tie-break Svitolina raced out to a 4-0 lead en route to winning 7-2. She will face Nicole Gibbs, who fought back from one set down to edge Greek qualifier Valentini Grammatikopoulou 4-6 6-2 7-5.
Caroline Wozniaki cruised past Eugenie Bouchard 6-1 6-1. The Danish star saved three break points to hold her serve in the second game before breaking serve in the fourth and sixth games to race out to a 6-1 win in the first set. Wozniacki cruised to a 5-0 lead with three consecutive breaks in the first, third and fifth games. Bouchard pulled one break back, as Wozniacki was serving for the match in the sixth game. The former world number 1 sealed the win with her fourth break on her second opportunity.
